Letter: Civil authorities

The Bible evidences many examples in which God sent His ministers to confront the civil authorities.

For instance, Daniel the prophet boldly confronted King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon saying: “Therefore, O king let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27).

In the New Testament, John the Baptist “rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done” (Luke 3:19).

Few today would know that of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence over half had what would be considered today as seminary degrees from Bible colleges. For many years before their separation from Great Britain, these men of faith confronted King George III to pass laws to charter missionary societies, Bible societies and laws to end slavery.

Clearly, there is no Biblical model for God’s ministers today to remain silent without confronting our civil rulers on murdering innocent unborn children, redefining God’s definition of marriage and political corruption. But, because of recent government censorship, many ministers choose to be politically correct rather than Biblically correct resulting in our politicians escaping moral and Biblical scrutiny.

Let ministers be reminded of Rev. Charles Finney’s words, “If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.” Amen!